


laugh lines

by octoaliencowboy



Series: Moments [10]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Grayson (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Some hurt/comfort, They invented love actually, dicks getting wrinkles and he does NOT like it, they’re getting old lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 14:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19087267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octoaliencowboy/pseuds/octoaliencowboy
Summary: Dick has begun to visibly age and he doesn’t like it one bit. Tiger tries to cheer him up





	laugh lines

“Dick, what are you doing? We’re going to be late.” Tiger is still fiddling with his tie when he walks into his and Dick’s shared bathroom.  _ Forty-five years old and I still hate the damn things _ , he thinks. 

 

He pauses mid-step in the doorway when he spots Dick. 

 

Dick is standing in front of the mirror, his cane leaning against the counter next to him. He’s locked in a staring contest with himself, poking at his face as he scrutinizes his reflection. This is not always such an uncommon sight, as intensive as his skincare routine is. It’s the look of dismay on his face that makes Tiger stop. 

 

Dick is looking at himself like he wants to rip all his skin off and stop inhabiting a corporeal form. That concerns Tiger. He’s encountered Dick’s various insecurities before, but it always, without fail, upsets him to see them affecting him like this. Tiger hates it when he catches Dick thinking bad of himself.

 

So he steps into the bathroom and comes up behind Dick. He wraps his arms around his waist and leans down so his chin rests on Dick’s shoulder. Holds him close and squeezes lightly. Dick is much softer around the middle than he used to be, and Tiger likes it a lot, but he knows Dick doesn’t. 

 

Dick doesn’t react except for the stilling of his hands, but there’s no way Tiger actually managed to sneak up on him like this. 

 

“What’s wrong?” 

 

Dick doesn’t look at Tiger, not even through their reflections. He keeps his upset gaze on his own face. “I’m getting wrinkles,” he says as if he can’t imagine a worse fate for himself. Tiger scoffs. 

 

“And?” 

 

This seems to throw Dick off. “And— well— I don’t know.” He stumbles. “I’m— it’s… ugly.” 

 

Tiger scoffs again. “Impossible. Ugliness is a social construct.”

 

“Shut up, Tiger.” Dick frowns, finally making eye contact with him in the mirror. 

 

“Okay, then, a different approach.” Tiger grabs Dick by the hips and spins him around so he’s facing Tiger and not the mirror. He cups the sides of Dick’s face and stares deeply into Dick’s eyes, so deeply Dick couldn’t escape if he tried. He needs Dick to know this. “Dick, you are no less beautiful than you were five years years ago, or ten years ago, or even twenty years ago. In fact, I would say you are more so. Because these...” 

 

He presses his thumbs to the shallow lines that have begun to appear on Dick’s cheeks. “These are  _ laugh lines _ . They tell of all the smiles you’ve smiled over the course of your life, and there is nothing more beautiful than your smile, or even the ghost of it. Do you understand?” 

 

Dick nods. He looks shell shocked, eyes wide like he doesn’t  _ quite _ understand, deep down, but he nods. 

 

“Good.” Tiger moves his hands from Dick’s face to hold both of his hands, bringing them up and pressing light kisses to his knuckles. “You are amazing, and radiant, and I love you. No simple sign of  _ aging _ could ever change that.”

 

“I love you too.” Dick bites his lip and looks down at their shoes.

 

“Surely you were aware you were going to have to start visibly aging at  _ some _ point.”

 

Dick shrugs. “I don’t know, I— for a while I really didn’t think I would live this long. It’s… weird.”

 

“Well you have, and you’re here, and you have to make the best of it. Got it?”

 

“I already have the best.” Dick smiles up at him. “I married you, didn’t I?” 

 

Tiger smirks in return. “There’s the incorrigible flirt I know. Now, come. Or we really will be late. The girls are already in the car.”  

 

“Then what are we waiting for?” Dick grabs his cane and takes Tiger’s hand in his free one, swinging their arms as they walked out of the house like teenagers. They didn’t know each other as teenagers, but sometimes Dick made him feel like what Tiger imagined an idyllic teenage romance might feel like. 

 

“I honestly can’t believe Hafsa is graduating high school already…” Dick sighs as Tiger locks the door behind them. “Feels like just yesterday you were bringing her home, all dusty and battered.” 

 

“It doesn’t feel like it was yesterday to me,” Tiger replies, thinking of his aching knees that certainly didn’t ache so badly back then. “But it did happen very fast.” 

 

“I should sing a song about it.”

 

“If you sing a song about it I will divorce you on the spot.” 

 

All that gets out of Dick is a laugh, but Tiger is glad for that all the same. He loves Dick’s laugh. There are no traces of his disdain for his own appearance left in Dick’s expression, and Tiger can’t tell if they have genuinely been forgotten for the time being or if Dick is just pretending. He’s pretty sure he’s not pretending. Tiger has gotten pretty good at telling when Dick is faking a smile and when he’s not, over the years. 

 

Right now, Dick’s smile is as bright and real as can be. The kind of smile that leaves lines on your face— lingering traces of joy to carry with you forever. 


End file.
